{"entity":{"id":"mertk","kind":"target","name":"MERTK","aka":["MER proto-oncogene, tyrosine kinase","Tyrosine-protein kinase Mer","mer","RP38","c-Eyk","Tyro12"],"tldr":"MERTK (Tyrosine-protein kinase Mer) is a protein kinase, an enzyme that switches other proteins on by adding phosphate groups. The public catalogues list it as a drug target and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Melanoma.","summary":"Receptor tyrosine kinase that transduces signals from the extracellular matrix into the cytoplasm by binding to several ligands including LGALS3, TUB, TULP1 or GAS6. Regulates many physiological processes including cell survival, migration, differentiation, and phagocytosis of apoptotic cells (efferocytosis). Ligand binding at the cell surface induces autophosphorylation of MERTK on its intracellular domain that provides docking sites for downstream signalling molecules.\n\nCIViC holds 1 clinical evidence item and 0 assertions across 1 variant, naming UNC1062.","asOf":"2026-09-23","links":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:7027","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:7027"},{"label":"UniProt Q12866","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q12866/entry"},{"label":"NCBI Gene 10461","url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/10461"},{"label":"Ensembl ENSG00000153208","url":"https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000153208"}],"tags":["cancer-genes-wave"],"related":["civic"],"cancers":["melanoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Written by scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts from CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC and UniProt; the function text is UniProt's, condensed and in UK spelling. Roles: CIViC lists 1 therapies; CIViC holds 1 clinical evidence items on its variants. Evidence tier \"clinical-evidence\" is the strongest of those signals.","Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts (CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC, UniProt)","editedOn":"2026-09-23"},"symbol":"MERTK","role":["drug-target","biomarker"],"evidenceTier":"clinical-evidence","sources":[{"label":"HGNC HGNC:7027","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:7027","note":"approved symbol, name, aliases, locus and cross-references (hgnc_complete_set.txt)"},{"label":"UniProt Q12866","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/Q12866/entry","note":"protein name, function text, keywords and locations (REST API)"},{"label":"CIViC gene MERTK","url":"https://civicdb.org/features/8331","note":"1 evidence items, 0 assertions, 1 variants; diseases: Melanoma (GraphQL API, CC0)"}],"distribution":"one-type","specificityNote":"Specificity not established: no corpus medicine is aimed at it and the catalogues give it only the roles drug-target, biomarker; HPA finds the RNA tissue enhanced, which says where the protein sits but not whether the tumour differs from normal tissue. HPA MERTK: RNA tissue enhanced (choroid plexus 90 nTPM); blood lineage lineage enriched (monocytes 9 nTPM); high antibody staining in 9 normal tissues; highest cancer staining renal cancer (9 of 12 high). Distribution: 1 cancer family in the corpus carries a prevalence row, label threshold or catalogue link for it (Skin cancer (all types)); Open Targets associates it with 0 specific cancer types at or above 0.5. (No rule of scripts/fetch-target-specificity.ts fired.)","specificitySources":[{"label":"Human Protein Atlas MERTK tissue","url":"https://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000153208-MERTK/tissue","note":"RNA tissue and blood lineage specificity, normal tissue antibody staining (version 25.1, CC BY-SA 3.0)"},{"label":"Open Targets ENSG00000153208 associations","url":"https://platform.opentargets.org/target/ENSG00000153208/associations","note":"cancer associations at or above 0.5 (CC0)"}],"hgnc":"HGNC:7027","ensembl":"ENSG00000153208","uniprot":"Q12866","entrez":"10461","firstDescribed":1994,"firstDescribedBasis":"sequence","firstDescribedNote":"Earliest sequence paper UniProt cites for the protein: Graham D.K. et al, Cell Growth Differ, 1994, \"Cloning and mRNA expression analysis of a novel human protooncogene, c-mer\".","firstDescribedSource":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8086340/","biology":"Receptor tyrosine kinase that transduces signals from the extracellular matrix into the cytoplasm by binding to several ligands including LGALS3, TUB, TULP1 or GAS6. Regulates many physiological processes including cell survival, migration, differentiation, and phagocytosis of apoptotic cells (efferocytosis). Ligand binding at the cell surface induces autophosphorylation of MERTK on its intracellular domain that provides docking sites for downstream signalling molecules. Following activation by ligand, interacts with GRB2 or PLCG2 and induces phosphorylation of MAPK1, MAPK2, FAK/PTK2 or RAC1. MERTK signalling plays a role in various processes such as macrophage clearance of apoptotic cells, platelet aggregation, cytoskeleton reorganisation and engulfment. Functions in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) as a regulator of rod outer segments fragments phagocytosis. Location: Cell membrane (UniProt). Locus 2q13 (HGNC).","whereFound":["Melanoma: CIViC evidence names this disease"],"targetClass":"kinase","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/mertk/","neighbours":{"collection":[{"id":"civic","kind":"collection","name":"CIViC","route":"/collections/civic/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Melanoma","route":"/cancers/melanoma/"}]}}